Board of Education, Regular Meeting transcript: FUTURE HUDSON

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11:14Mark.
11:14Yeah.
11:15Is
11:16No, Amanda's sick.
11:17Okay.
11:19Hello. Good evening. Uh, I'd like to call the meeting to order and ask everybody please stand for the pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
11:45Uh Leslie, roll call, please.
11:51Mark to Pace,
11:52here. Amanda Grubler
11:54that she's sick and sends her regrets.
11:57Okay. Kirsten Gustiffson here. Diana Howard
12:01here. Matthew Macker
12:02here.
12:03Moren Sheridan
12:04here.
12:05Mike Zabella
12:06here.
12:06Leona Prova
12:08here.
12:10Uh and I make a motion to accept the agenda as presented.
12:14Second.
12:15All in favor. Brings us to our student representative report. Welcome back. Good afternoon. Um, so the high school is currently in their m regent midterms week. Uh, the Trian Musical Honor Society is hosting a Mario Kart tournament on January 30th. And that's about it. That's all I have so far. Thank you.
12:39What's the Mario Kart?
12:41Oh, so I think it's it's after school, I think, in the band room or the choir room in the high school. um where people will I think they have to pay a fee and they'll play Mario Kart.
12:53Nice.
12:54I think there's a prize. I'll have to check.
12:58Awesome. Austin, can we get a little more juice out of the microphones? Thank you.
13:04All right. Thank you, Leona. That brings us to our uh board reports. Audit committee.
13:08Uh no report since last time.
13:11Facilities committee.
13:13I was unable to attend, but Moren has agreed to do our report.
13:16Yeah. Okay. So, um we met we just met right before um from 5 to 6 um and um the EPC update um they everything is um set everything is um on path to you know on schedule um for the capital project and the EPC. Um same thing with the greenhouse everything is looking good. um updates on the cooler and freezer. Um everything is um good with that. Um I'm just looking at Tyler's notes here for a second. There's uh yep. Um yeah, everything is um everything is
14:12looking looking good. Awesome. Thank you very much.
14:16Yep.
14:17Uh policy committee. Um Amanda's not here. Uh but we met on January 13th. Uh we what do we do? We have a number of uh policies on this agenda that we went through including the booster club policy uh wellness policy and expense reimbursement and regulation policy. Also made um some uh final changes to our school district records policy. Um and uh that was about it. Um and then oh uh we did go through the um our homework is the 110 policies on uh sexual [clears throat] harassment. So we're working on that next. Um and there is a vacancy on the policy committee. Um
15:19Elise Hilton has had to step down. So we will be working on uh filling her seat as well. Uh and finance committee
15:31uh the finance committee met on January 5th and January 12th. Uh we've covered um some matters related to uh ongoing current reporting as well as ramping up for the 26 27 budget uh and some matters that will be presented uh by the district office in their presentation tonight. Uh and for the president's report, um so as many of you know, we held a uh public board workshop on January 7th to discuss the search process with our um representative from HYA, Dr. Kuita Adams. Um later on in this meeting,
16:13we'll go through the decisions um that the board has made. Again, trying to make this as transparent of a process as possible. Um and also happy to report that on this agenda we have um a HDA MOA and club charter for our trap club and are excited to uh wish them luck in their inaugural season. That brings us to our first uh presentation budget presentation number one. Get here. Good evening. School budgets are a fascinating multiaceted thing. I may make a few analogies to our own
17:35household budgets as I describe some of the things that we're tackling as we go through this evening. So, first I wanted to talk about a little bit about our background and our philosophy. But um you can see some of the items that we will be discussing tonight. Enrollment numbers, staffing, class size, three-part budget as presented last year, fund balance, projected state aid, and what we know about the tax levy. So, there are some mysteries here. Christy arrived in March as the new executive director for business. And
18:18March is is pretty far through a budget season uh because a lot of decisions have difficult decisions have likely already had to have been made and there are some things that we weren't at the table for. You know, we don't really know uh what discussions may have happened around that. some of the wows that we certainly discovered as we came into this year. So basically Christy is the manager of someone else's budget as am I as is the board those new members of the board or those that weren't involved in the process as it
18:54was developed in that um there are some expenses that weren't accounted for for 2526 such as about a million dollars in unaccounted for transportation costs primarily related to those things that aren't going to someone's house and picking them up. So, it could be McKenna, which are our homeless students. It could be transportation to sporting events. It could be transportation to CTE at one of the centers or new visions, uh, or out of district placement. So, there were some things that simply weren't accounted for on the ledger.
19:34Also, we ran summer schools this past summer that were not in the budget. more than $200,000 was spent on those summer schools. So, you know, that has to come from somewhere in this year's budget. Um, healthcare, $800,000 in additional money is needed to help us pay for our health care this year. Health care is extremely volatile. It's very difficult to predict. We probably got the numbers sometime last spring. Um, but still a shortfall. So, you can see how I've just described $2 million in a $58 million, $544,000
20:12budget that needs to be paid from money that has been earmarked to spend on other things. It's not unreoverable. I mean, every budget that's developed by school districts has areas in it where there are unexpected uh expenses. You might have to hire a new special education teacher because a program needs to be created. You might have to add a bus run for a student who needs transportation to Guilderland. There are lots of things that happen. Um so that a little bit of description of last year and predominantly um there was a 3% rollover in the budget
20:54with some specific larger increases in areas where people predicted there might be some needed increases and I'm going to describe some things for everybody during COVID. Uh many districts invested in human capacity. Hudson didn't spend a tremendous amount of money in purchasing more people, you know, on paying, hiring more people. There were a few, but what Hudson did do is they paid the salaries of their existing people with some of their COVID money. So, in other words, the school district had a $50 million budget and
21:30instead of spending the money on the teacher salaries from the general fund, they spent money from the COVID uh grants, we'll call them grants. Um, so then when th that money ended, which I think was the fall of last year, was the last time that money could have been used, that means all of those folks had to go back on the budgetary roles, putting stress on last year's budget. And I would argue that the few folks that were hired during COVID still work here. They didn't stop working here after the CO money ended.
22:04grants. We're so fortunate and blessed in the grants that we received, both in title grants and uh the uh My Brother's Keeper and uh Stronger Connections, which is an extension of the title grants, millions of dollars, and we'll talk about grant monies at the next meeting. The grant monies that we've inherited, one of the larger ones is rolling off the Stronger Connections Grant, which is federally funded. It's about $1.2 2 million and we will have to find a way to pay for those resources that are currently being paid through that grant.
22:42Staffing is interesting. In 2016, the district began using WCAP, which is our finance program that helps us with payroll. It helps us uh understand where allocations are when we're purchasing equipment or supplies. And in 2016, the onboarding process for a program like that is tremendous. Like you can imagine, imagine this is why like if you go on different websites uh for New York State, they don't look or feel the same because it is so hard to take years and years and years of information and roll
23:20it over into something new. So, you go to state ed, you go to DMV, you go to the controllers at the governor's website, they're all different. Um, and schools are no different. When we went to WINCAP in 2016, we didn't do all of the onboarding. And what I mean when I say that is people's longevity. How long when they started working the district uh maybe uh time that they had off when they uh took unpaid leave for a family member for for maternity leave. Um and
23:55subsequently between then and now you would think that the information would be perfect. However, what has happened and I can't explain why is when staff are onboarded. I know the board has noticed that when uh we've created of some positions together, we've abolished some positions together and every time we've done that, it has a control number in WindCap and every time the district created a job and didn't speak to the board for whatever reason and hired someone and didn't record that in Windcap, this our management program, there is
24:33the potential that that person has never been accounted for in a budget. They're being paid. But if I said, "How many K through five teachers do we have in this district?" I would go to the control number for that job. It's not about the person that works here. It's about the job. Take a smaller department. It's easier to find. Uh food service. 17 people work in food service. I can see all of them. [snorts] They can go to the kitchen. I know exactly where they are. I can count all of them. I would know if there was an extra if there was an 18th food service worker. But if
25:12three years ago we decided we need an extra reading teacher, we hired them. We posted and we hired. And if there's no no control number, there's no guarantee that that person was actually accounted for in the budget. And when you roll over budgets by just doing percentages instead of saying we have 183 teachers in the district, if you're not saying those words, there's the risk that I think has happened in a few subsequent budgets. And Christy and Shante have been working very hard now to say, I see 17 people.
25:48They all need a control number. and in perpetuity we will sustain those numbers, we will increase them or we will decrease them. Not I need someone I'm going to post and go out and hire and not account for it in the budget process. So as they've been doing their research, by the way, this is the longest part of the presentation. While they've [clears throat] been doing their research, they've discovered quite a few positions that have no control numbers and yet we have to account for them in payroll. They go through all that process and they're on boarded and they're being paid.
26:23This is being cleaned up. After this year, you will have a wonderful foundation to build every subsequent budget on um and by the work of the people here. Um and and not that the people before them weren't doing their work. We just want to make sure that you and the taxpayers of this district understand the investment that they're putting toward the outcomes for our students and we want to be completely transparent around that and the only way to do that is to do this forensic work.
26:58So please know that as I speak tonight you may hear one or both of us say we're close or we think this is what reality is. Last thing I'll say a tax levy. We wanted to be able to present our expected tax levy to you tonight. One of the important components of that calculation is pilots. That means payments in lie of taxes. So in other words, a person who owns a property and they're paying a fixed amount over successive years. We need to know what all of them are in order to calculate our tax cap calculation. And we don't.
27:32We've been working um with the IDA. of course he's been working with um the uh industrial development of the county trying to figure that out and we will by the next meeting we expect to have the tax cap calculation accurately for you and basically our philosophy is to stabilize sustain and strengthen the program here and what that means is being accountable to the taxpayers who invest 58 plus million dollars in the work that we do and demonstrate positive student outcomes. And I want you to know that every uh meeting that we've had with the um
28:08directors and the principles to date has begun with not how many pencils do you need or name of something in your classroom. The question has been what is it you're trying to do? And then from that discussion, what are the resources that you need to do it? That's how all of us should be be approaching budgets. It helps us when times are good and it definitively helps us when times aren't so good and we have to make hard choices. If we don't know why we're doing the things that we're doing, then they probably don't belong.
28:44So, we want everyone to recognize and understand and attend to why we're spending this money, why we think it's so important. Okay. Student enrollment. [clears throat] The blue line represents those students that are actively in our buildings. We had a little uptick this year, which is very exciting. And the red line represents those students that are placed out of district and our prek students. But um among all schools, I would say it looks doesn't look great that our enrollment is going down, but among some of our neighboring schools, this is really this is pretty stable. There are some that have lost hundreds of students over the course of just a handful of years. We are currently a hold harmless school as far as aid goes. If the state
29:33were to say that's no longer the case and we're going to hold you to student enrollment numbers, it could have a very delletterious uh effect on us. Um so maintaining our student enrollment is a great benefit to us. The next slide um talks about the makeup of those students that are here with us. So the gray is the district enrolled. Economically disadvantaged is the blue line. Um and you can see it's it's daunting. I've talked about um our students in poverty before, but you can see it's a very real thing here. And the red line represents our students with disabilities.
30:12It's a little high uh in Hudson. The state, you know, they state they have lots of aspirations for school districts. They might say 12, 13, 14%. We're about 20. um right now and it's stay remained pretty constant over the years as you look across the duration of that. Next is our demographic makeup. This is [clears throat] also representative in some ways of the many languages that our communities speak. [clears throat] And um overall I am I'm very impressed with um the it's a very culturally rich
30:55school district to be in and I'm grateful for both the student population and for the staff that work with them. But it is it's great to see this demographic represented in such a way. Building administrators and directors include those most commonly uh you would commonly think as building administrators. And then of course uh directors are Miss James Hughes, our um director of student services and where'd he go? Mr. Curtsman, our director of facilities. So that's eight. Central office um the three executive directors and our IT manager. Central
31:40office support staff. You can read the rest. the HTA number, that's our teachers association. We're close on that, but I will tell you some of the nuances and problems of us. Um, and and we haven't had a conversation with the association yet. they clearly know who their members are. But um because as people have been entered into the system into WindCap, sometimes they might have been entered as a service provider or they could have been entered as an elementary teacher or they could have been entered as an AIS reading teacher. They could have been entered as a name a thing. They weren't
32:17all named the same thing. Um so we've just been trying to capture all of them and put them in one pile. Uh that's one number we haven't had a chance to validate yet, but we'll certainly do so by the next meeting. IT staff, [clears throat] our long-term substitutes are there. They are supposed to be operating as building subs. I think all four of them right now are helping us by being in place for staff members who have been out long term. but they are in addition to our overall FTEES or overall
32:55full-time employments. The total is um we're going to we're sticking really confidently to about 368 staff members and I've joked uh with a few of you before on my first day sitting in a meeting with my colleagues I said how many people work here everyone had a different answer. The fact that we're zeroing in on the answer we believe is correct is pretty darn exciting. And you might just say, "Well, why don't they just go into payroll and look?" The problem is we pay substitutes. We pay coaches. We pay a lot of other things.
33:35We pay extra help outside of school. People are getting paid for a lot of different things. It's not just as easy as pushing the button, but we're working through that. And I apologize for how small the class size numbers are. Um, oh, you can read them from the seats. This is good. When we come together next time, I will project this as an average for each grade number of sections and as an average. It's a little easier to digest, but you get the gist. All that means on the left hand side is there's one or five sections. There's
34:09five versions of that class. So for instance, kindergarten has five classes plus a special class which would be for our students with disabilities. Any questions so far? Diana,
34:27uh you have the class sizes for the elementary kids. What are the class sizes? Average class sizes for the middle grades and
34:38that's that's the total. Yeah, I'll pull that for you, Diana.
34:42Seven is 114.
34:44Oh, I'm sorry. You see what I mean? They're not Yeah. divided up.
34:47Yeah,
34:49it's um And when you look at the state report card, they will pull out the four core science, math, actually they pull out like algebra, earth science, global, and um ELA. They call out four section, four different ones. But we can certainly calculate um and h I'll have that for you next time. That is very relevant.
35:16Um one question is there generally a ratio that that you can find in districts for studentto staff um
35:27special. Oh, in a in a classroom, Mark,
35:31or just in general, um, you know, like we have there's four staff members to every or four students to every staff member. Um, is that normal? Is that abnormal? Is there a way to
35:43There is no normal.
35:44There's no, [laughter]
35:46it really is situational because if you went to a school that was in the north country where, you know, you had no choice. You had a class of seven kids, you would have a weird ratio. a city school district, they are the the more students and the more numbers of classes, the better you can actually control the the class sizes. So, you'll see in a larger school district in the thousands where every class is 26 because they're able to take 25 sections and and average it out somehow. But I wouldn't say there's a normal. But when
36:20we um when we get down to it, it's not unreasonable. If we wanted to, we could look at comparables and look across our neighboring schools that you know in the region because that's really most relevant probably for us. Okay, we're going to talk about some more numbers and um just review the how we got to where we are today. So, our total budget for the 2526 school year was 58 million and is $544,000. Our three-point budget is made up of our administrative, capital, and program, which is the
37:17funding that goes directly towards our stu to our students. And the reason why we want to look at this in terms of three parts is really to emphasize the importance and where our funding goes in relationship to our students. And as we're talking about um stabilizing, strengthening, and sustaining our programming, it's really important to look at um this information in these parts. And this should look like this. Most of our funding is going towards directly towards our students.
37:55There we go. Nope.
37:59Sorry. Okay, there we go. Okay, so this again is a review of our revenue projections for this year in comparison to the 2425 budget. Um, this is how we came up with our revenue for this year and how we were going to support our expenses. The Sorry, I'm going to put my glasses on here. So, the one thing really to keep in mind and just to just to emphasize is that we did use unassigned fund balance to balance this budget um over $2 million in addition to um a planned use
38:39of our um reserves which was the $963,000 almost a million dollars. Um we also have um talked about hold harmless and when we're referring to our state aid provisions that project districts from losing funding even when enrollment declines. So that is still currently in place. Um but it's important always to keep that in mind that if um the state decides to go away from that that would be affecting our revenue projections. Okay, this is the latest um projected state aid that we've received. Actually, the governor talked today and so there was one that that that it came out today, but it's pretty flat and so we
39:31are looking at the same um foundation aid. Um and these numbers are are pretty stable. And so this is what we'll be using when we're going to be um projecting our um state aid and foundation aid um for our revenues for the 26 27 school year. So, the reserves are really an important part of our um financial stability and long-term planning, and they allow us to manage unforeseen expenses in smooth year-to-year budget fluctuations. You'll see today um I put forth a repair reserve resolution. we did have an emergency um boiler repair that we needed and so we're able to use our um
40:23repair reserve in order to um just not affect any other uh revenue line. And so it's really important to have these funded in in a good sense in case these things come up. Um, and these were our expense projections and so as Dr. Bailey had mentioned that we these were used for as a rollover um mostly and just and just use some of the health insurance, retirement benefits and the miscellaneous fringe were really ones that we were really focused on in terms of an additional amount.
41:33missing a page.
41:35I know. So, some missing pieces and I would add to this list the class sections for the secondary and if there are any comparables with neighboring districts. I think the board has asked a few times to know what grants are currently in place and how we're expending that money. um the work that Alyssa and Lynn, the the two people that are part-time working in the position of the curriculum instruction right now, they've been working since September to unravel uh those things because grants there's an accountability, a fearsome accountability for all of them. We have to clearly explain how we did what we
42:18said we would do and account for that on a financial ledger and they're in a pretty good place at this juncture. uh some of the postings and changes and things that you've seen come into board meetings are for us to remain in compliance with what we said we would do with our grants. Our philosophy would be that we would know those things in June and July and we would do all those postings for the year in June and July, maybe August and then there won't be so much of a burden in September, October, November trying to fix things that may have already happened. And I think that that's not going to be a heavy lift for us. It's just about being timely.
42:59Uh so important are Bosey's expenses. You may know Boseies actually um generates revenue for us. We get depending on what the service is, we get about 36% back. We spend $100, we get $36 back in the following year. That's another revenue that we can count on. Um it's important to know what the tax levy has been. We'll look at that over time and of course what that'll reflect on in our community. uh looking at our reserve forecasts to the best extent that we can. Like if we can look at some of our past behaviors, we can project out how much if any of
43:38the unassigned fund balance we might have to use in order to balance our future budgets. That's very relevant because it's a bank account. It's not um an unlimited source. So if you keep spending down and and not replenishing the money in your unassigned fund balance or your reserves, it eventually runs out. And we want to be conscientious about uh that because you always need that level of protection. Uh and we're going to have facilities and technology present at our next meeting. So they'll be giving an overview of what their projected budgets are. Do you have
44:11any other questions?
44:14Yes.
44:15Uh I have a question on I think the fourth slide. Is there a specific reason why you don't include prek in the enrollment numbers? It has to do with aid. You know, like a regular student, a regular third grader coming to school is aided differently than a preker. We actually prek is partially funded by a grant in New York State. I think we have two grants that we're receiving for our prek program.
44:44Oh, I have another question. I think it's on uh page eight, the current staffing. Uh, is it possible that there is a teacher who's not part of the hta?
45:01No. Well, there is a possibility they may not be a member of the union, but they would be accounted for as someone who would be. Um, and it's a little unusual, but I would say in the last 3 to 5 years, there are a few people or more people who have opted to not join a collective collective bargaining group. That's an option that's new in New York State. It didn't used to be an option. So, there are a few people that do.
45:27Thank you.
45:28Yeah. And to your point, Labana, that should say teachers. It's a very good point. Thank you.
45:41Any other questions?
45:44Um, I just want to say uh thank you for the progress. Um, I think a lot of this is information we were looking for last year and felt out of reach. Um, so I'm I'm looking forward to see hearing more at the next meeting and, you know, uh, progressing through the process so we can um get a a strong sustainable budget for next year.
46:10Great.
46:11Yeah, I agree. This is a really good uh foundation to build from. I guess the only other thing that I would add for additional information, it's great to see all the the staff numbers, but also if there's any idea of staff members who are retiring uh and how that affects the number moving from this year to uh to next year would be good to know.
46:34Okay,
46:37thank you.
46:38Thank you both. Uh brings us to an early executive session. We do have a need um for an early executive session. Make a motion to enter at 6:36 p.m. for the purposes of discussing the employment history of a particular person or persons and corporation.
46:59Second.
46:59All in favor. Uh thank you all for your patience. We will be as fast as we can. Uh, thank you all for your patience. Make a motion to exit executive session at 7:14 p.m.
1:24:20Second.
1:24:20All in favor. We have our personnel agenda. Um like to uh pull I have a request to pull agenda a item A1. So make a motion to uh accept agenda items A 2 through 10 and B 1- 6.
1:24:43Second. All in favor? Uh, now make a motion to uh accept agenda item A1.
1:24:54Second.
1:24:54All in favor. And Diana. Uh, all uh, that's a no.
1:25:02Yeah, that's a no.
1:25:06Okay. So, okay.
1:25:13Got it. Thank you. Uh, now we have public forum.
1:25:20We have Kelly McDonald.
1:25:22All right.
1:25:25Okay. So, everybody knows you have uh three minutes uh to speak. Uh we cannot entertain any comments about district personnel or students. Uh and we may not have a answer for you tonight. We want to take the time to research your question and make sure that we get back to you with an accurate answer.
1:25:45I'm real simple. My only issue is the fact that I don't understand why the elementary kids are forced to go outside and not have the option as opposed to the junior high and high school kids. Friday was freezing. Junior high did not go outside because of the weather.
1:25:58What do you mean outside? Outside during lunch or outside in the morning?
1:26:02Um, both. They have no option. The only way they come inside is for breakfast other than recess. to go outside. No option. As opposed to the junior high these these buildings, the kids have an option. If it's if it's below 20°, that's when New York State says they can't go outside. But I just feel like I don't understand why it's not an option for the little kids as opposed to how it is for the big kids. Second thing, this is it. Um, sixth grade, junior high. I don't understand
1:26:32why if they don't go outside, they have to stay in the cafeteria because there's no access to the gym for that for that grade as opposed to seventh and eighth. There is. So, those are my only issues. I feel coming from sixth grade, the fact that they're coming up here with all this energy from a full recess and are confined to the cafeteria with minimum noise and unable to socialize as one gets up in, you know, recess.
1:26:57If they don't go outside, they're just
1:27:00contained to the cafeteria with minimum socialization and noise.
1:27:04Those are great questions. You you put your name in. Okay, great. So, we'll make sure somebody gets back to you about that. See you later.
1:27:10Of course. Greetings members of the board. I attended the most recent board meeting regarding the superintendent search and after listening to the discussion, I felt compelled to share my perspective. For context, I'm a proud graduate of graduate of the Hudson City School District class of 96. I attended John L. Edwards Mixis and Hudson High. The junior high wasn't built yet. I've lived in the district my entire life and I've worked with the Hudson City School District for the past 16 years. I am and always will be a Blue Hawk. During the
1:27:49discussion, I heard mention that certain search platforms tend to attract attract candidates from Connecticut or New Jersey. I respect respectfully question why we feel the need to look outside our state or even outside our region when some of the strongest leaders that this district has known came right up through the ranks right here. When I attended school, Hudson was led by Neil Howard, a long local superintendent who truly understood this district and its community. His leadership is another example of how successful Hudson City School District has been when guided by someone with local roots and a genuine
1:28:28investment in Hudson. I have been fortunate to work under superintendent Jack How and Maria Sutmier. Under their leadership, the district thrived. Staff morale was high and as a result, student success followed. Since Maria Sutmier's retirement, our graduation rate has declined. morale has suffered significantly and staff turnover has been very high. I strongly believe in hiring local leaders, people who know Hudson, care about Hudson and are invested in this community. There may very well be qualified candidates within our own district or surrounding districts who understand our students, our families, and our challenges.
1:29:11I am also a little disappointed by the decision to select the HYA firm to conduct this search. During the previous superintendent search led by HYA, many stakeholders, including myself, strongly emphasized the importance of hiring local candidates. Despite this feedback, the process resulted in the hiring of an out ofstate superintendent. Additionally, during the stakeholder meetings, HYA assured participants that they would follow up with the community after the superintendent was hired, but that follow-up never occurred. These experience raise concerns about whether stakeholder input will truly be valued
1:29:48and honored in this search process. What this district needs most is a superintendent who can build and sustain a strong leadership team. For several years now, Hudson City School District has lacked consistent leadership and effective administration. A superintendent with local roots and a genuine commitment to this community can help restore stability, morale, and student success. Thank you for your time and for considering my perspective.
1:30:16Thank you, Kelly.
1:30:23That's it.
1:30:23That's it. Um we will be discussing a lot of that uh later on this meeting. So thank you for speaking. We have our superintendent report. Hello. [clears throat] So, I appreciate um your attention and your interest uh during the budget presentation and uh the finance committee has been very helpful in bouncing ideas off of and being able to dig a little deeper in some things and I'm so very grateful for those members of the board who have chosen to participate in that new committee. It's been great.
1:31:11The uh New York State 38 test scores were released not that long ago um in the last couple months and when you look across them they're available on the state portal which we'll be sharing with families uh pretty soon. When you look across you'll see in general an improvement in scores in all schools in New York. So in other words, if perhaps third grade proficiency in English was 42% last year, it may have gone up to 47% in the state. And in quite a few of
1:31:45those areas, our students followed that trend. They improved at the same rate or in some instances a little higher. Um I would say um our ELA successes in the tests that took place last May um were better. Um and it's it's difficult you know we look at the to some extent we look at the demographics of our population we have some or uh students that are not English as a first language so we have some language barrier things although I say that our ENL program or
1:32:18English as a new language program is fairly robust here and the people that do that work are excellent and our staff I think do a pretty good job of helping bridge the gap. Um, I would say overall though our compared to New York State, our students are still underperforming and it's not a lack of effort on behalf of the staff. They they stay in this community as Kelly described. They love this community, the people that are here and they love the students that they serve. Uh the thing that I think um you
1:32:49will see is that us being very clear about the limited number of things that we want to correct and work on and we we share that really robustly with the board and the community will be helpful at moving our progress ahead. I keep saying this is not a great way to think, but when you're identified, when you're a targeted school, which our junior high and our elementary school are, it means that the students performed in the bottom 10% in New York State. We need to get out of that identification.
1:33:24We need to be 1% or more better than all the other schools in New York State that performed in the bottom 10%. There's no question in a district with resources as we have and the students that we have that we can do that. And over the next two weeks, what you will see is you you saw the presentations from our principles throughout the fall. We have um our new communications person has helped to kind of graphically put that together. In other words, the high school's working on attendance, improving graduation rate, region scores, and restorative
1:34:01practice is really just improving the culture of the community in the high school. Being able to project that clearly to our students, our families, and to the board and everyone else is really relevant because it's not a job that the staff can do alone or the students can do alone. You you get the idea. Um, but along with that, I mean, what I'm really conscious of is we don't want it to be it's not a dog and pony show. It's not a create a nice graphic and then everyone
1:34:34waits until next October to find out how we did. So, as promised, the um the graphic will be followed up with the results we have so far for this year. And it's okay to not be successful. The important thing is that we recognize that we're not and we do something differently and it's a hard thing to do in schools and many schools are excellent at it and some schools wait until October to find out how students did the previous May. We're not going to be that school. And I
1:35:08am also appreciative that the board has asked such good questions around student improvement. Sometimes it is around environment. Sometimes it's around good English instruction. Sometimes it's around uh being in school attendance. Um but keeping our eye on a few very particular things is what will spell the difference. You can't do 10 things at a time. We do three or four things to the best of our ability until we're good at it and then we go to the next thing. So I am excited for what we're going to share with you. um and we'll share with
1:35:42the whole community that tells the story of what the principles said in the fall and what the first round of results look like. Um I mean Derek and I were going through the high school stuff last week and there are some areas where they really have made ground and there are some areas where they didn't. Attendance is still a mystery. You know, all schools are trying to figure it out. Um but um it will um to be fair I think if we're not all serious and focused on this issue the
1:36:17academic outcomes for kids and push aside some of the subtrifuge they'll ne will never be 10% plus one we deserve to be 90%. I'll I will be happy with 10% plus one and getting off the list for next year. But the rest of it is students need to graduate with all the skills and talents that they deserve. I mean it's this is a rich robust place to go to school. Um and uh we can do better and I'm very happy with how many staff have helped in the buildings to recognize and to do that work. They're really really doing that work and they genuinely care.
1:36:59I was going to suggest uh to the board that um for the um assistant the executive director for curriculum instruction that in lie of your timeline for the superintendent search that we create a posting around that job and it be posted in uh April at the latest so that you have candidates ready in May to be interviewed by your selected superintendent. Um, and and I appreciate that you we appointed uh we created the position last month, but I wanted to uh between now and when we post, I wanted to share a job description with you because that's relevant as well. So, I'll I'll be sure to have that to you before February's meeting.
1:37:47I think that's it until I remember something later.
1:37:49All right.
1:37:49Thank you.
1:37:50Uh, any questions for Dr. Bailey? I had asked um previously if there was a shared decision-making team at the junior high school and if we have a shared decision- making plan yet.
1:38:06What did you a shared decision-making team at the junior high school? Right now, the junior high I to my understanding, Diana, they have a seated team that's working on their building level um response plans for New York State. They're the ones that are looking at data and helping to make some decisions around which direction the building goes in next. Um and same thing at the elementary school. They have a school level team and uh and a SEP team school [snorts] comprehensive education plan team. Um I don't know if either one of them
1:38:52exemplifies a traditional shared decision-making team, which is usually a parent, um members of support staff, teachers, and administrators. I don't know that it's exactly that.
1:39:08Okay. I have one more question I wanted to follow up on. Um I had asked about the tutor programs, the athletic tutoring, extended learning time tutoring. Uh the only tutoring I know of that we still have is the inschool tutoring program which I'm I'm uh I'm appreciative of. Uh but what about the other do we have any other tutoring programs? There were on the personnel agenda for tonight. There were a number of No, it's okay.
1:39:34The home tutors or tutoring?
1:39:36Uh, there are there were a number Well, there's actually two things I want to tell you. There are um a number of tutors that are on the agenda for tonight that are going to help our migrant students. One of our title grants requires that we offer that service to our migrant students. And I think there's about 63 in the district. Um, which I was surprised how high that was. Um, in addition, both the elementary and junior high are working to create after school programs for the struggling students that are academically struggling. Um, again, as
1:40:11part of one of the grants, they want us to be able to be providing programs that are providing the support that maybe students aren't getting within the school day. It's not tutoring per se, but I think the benefit is it's really going to be hyperfocused on the students that need it most. I do not know that we do athletic tutoring. That's what you asked about, too.
1:40:30Well, truth be told, one of the kids was asking about a tutoring program for the kids in the middle that that might not be the ones that get it and might not be the strugglers, but the ones that are in the middle that there's no program for.
1:40:44You know, there's so many things that are wonders for me, too. I would be interested. Oh, we have we are working through a multi-tered system of support. You may have heard that um prior to your retirement, which is simply just okay, a student isn't successful with the first treatment. What do we do next? And then there's supposed to be a menu of things that we can choose from. I'm going to find out what that menu is and I'll I'll share it with the board. Tutoring would be one of them. No question. You know, access for anybody who didn't have an IEP.
1:41:13Well, she was asking specifically for test prep, high school regences, and things like that. that she she couldn't get um any tutoring help.
1:41:23Gotcha. Right. Thank you.
1:41:31Right. Any other questions? Um so we will move on to our consent agenda. uh have a request to uh pull item N. Um so make a motion
1:41:55to approve consent agenda items A through M and O through Z.
1:42:03Second.
1:42:04All in favor?
1:42:06I'm I'm a little bit behind here. Did we already pull the one I asked you to pull because
1:42:11that's the one I just ended. Okay.
1:42:12Yeah.
1:42:13I thought we already voted on.
1:42:15It's on both. It's on personnel and consent. Yep.
1:42:19Um
1:42:22can you do that vote again? I'm sorry that I interrupted that.
1:42:26Uh so make a motion to accept consent agenda items A through M and O through Z.
1:42:34Second.
1:42:35All in favor? And now make a motion to accept consent agenda item N.
1:42:46Second.
1:42:47All in favor?
1:42:50Any knows.
1:42:55And we have one of our new staff members here.
1:42:57Ah. Uh. Well, and also we need to um hold on. Oh, we should have done it in personnel, but congratulate um Katie. Yes. Congratulate Kayla Carpenter on her tenure. And we have a new staff member.
1:43:19And now they're a new staff member. [laughter] We're usually better at a rounds of applause. Um I wanted to welcome Katie Gagan. She is joining us uh in our language department and she lived in dual cultures between ages nine and 16 where she learned Spanish, studied Hispanic civilizations and language at Ruters University and among the many benefits of learning a new language is the learning about cultures that are different than their own. Along with the learning in places where cultures intersect in similarities, she loves movies, reading, and is passionate about animals of all types. Animal behavior and animal rescue have been an integral part of her life. And she's found the
1:43:59interactions with Hudson CSD, human resources, high school administration, and the current superintendent to be collaborative, supportive, and most professional. I paid her to say that these qualities are absolutely necessary to have any positive impact on our students. And it really does take a village, and I look forward to my contribution.
1:44:17Thank you.
1:44:18Very nice.
1:44:20Stand up.
1:44:23[applause]
1:44:24I know.
1:44:26Yeah, I know all of our students will be very happy to have a Spanish teacher in the classroom again.
1:44:31Yeah, absolutely. [laughter]
1:44:33Is this for a high school?
1:44:36I believe this is for junior high and high school, correct?
1:44:39Yeah, it would be both.
1:44:42Um, okay. Sorry, we went out of order there a little bit. Um but we will uh now move on to policy. So a number of things going on here. We have our first reading of policy 5405 and 5405e student wellness. This is a required policy um that uh goes through all of the different ways that we are helping um students uh live healthy lives. Um so uh touches on everything from the food that we serve uh to recess and physical activity. Um it's a big one. It's worth reading. I think it will, you know, create a lot of
1:45:29um positive change. Um, anybody have any questions or immediate uh
1:45:35I do I mean Amanda's not here but um um I'm just wondering how some of these um pieces of the policy are going to be communicated to the teachers especially like um for fundraisers and also for the the classroom parties um because it's it's I mean there's old standard for healthy foods which is you know I know with the elementary you you know, parents are always bringing in, you know, cupcakes for the class and so basically we're we're eliminating that that um so I'm just wondering how that's
1:46:10going to be.
1:46:11We have Yep. We had discussion about that for sure. Um, a lot of it is well a I want to say we do have a wellness committee um that was instrumental in um sort of adapting a lot of these changes looking at the recommendations from New York State and from NISBA and making into something that feels appropriate for our district. Um so I think for some of those things we can definitely lean on them. So, um, you know, things like distributing guidelines for snacks, um, could be something that they could work on as a committee saying, "Hey, here are some ideas for snacks to bring in for your children's party that aren't full
1:46:49of sugar or um, unhealthy ingredients." Um, the
1:46:53I think it's it's recommended, too. It's not like going to say the other part of it is that we were careful to some things are encouraged, some things are recommended. You know, a lot of it's in that nuance. I thought I read that th those pieces those specific pieces were going to be mandated to follow the guidance state guidelines.
1:47:12I think the thing that it says that it's mandated is that we need to provide guidelines and recommendations to parents. So, if a parent chooses not to follow those guidelines, and that's fine, but at least we as a district have said,
1:47:27"Hey, when you're celebrating your child's birthday in the classroom, here are some things to do that
1:47:34uh fit with our student wellness policy." Um there's also a lot of talk about um you know, other rewards uh outside of food rewards. You know, a parent could come in and play a game for their child's birthday or everybody could sing a song. dance or whatever. So, um,
1:47:53so I think it's it's, you know, trying to move people in that direction. And, yeah, to your point, it's a lot to keep track of. Um, and the last thing we want to do is put more pressure on our teachers and our administrators to make sure that different boxes are being checked. Um, but it's a start and I think it definitely empowers the wellness committee to start putting these materials together and making sure everybody's informed.
1:48:17Absolutely. I think the other thing that I am curious how other schools are acknowledging is in an era of increasing understanding of dietary limitations how those are being addressed. Um I did not see that addressed anywhere in that content. Um you know what's healthy for one person can differ widely for what from what's healthy for another person. And I I would like to see if there's any language out there that acknowledges that and provides some support for that. That's a really good point. We can definitely bring that back to the committee
1:48:52as an individual who has to cook uh both high protein and low protein meals in a single night.
1:48:58I understand. Okay. Any other feedback on this policy? Okay. Uh next we have first reading of uh the 1120 series which are school district records. Um the majority of these changes were um creating some consistent language across them. Making sure that the um the uh records access officer is deter is um referred to in the correct way. Um we clarified the appeals process um and designated the superintendent as the um basically appeals officer. Um corrected some uh working hours for the district clerk. Um, and then we did
1:49:59um agree to uh the fee for reproducing paper copies um at a fee of 25% per photo copy. Certainly acknowledging the fact that pretty much every single foil request has been has resulted in digital reproductions and the chance of somebody um incurring these charges are uh minimal. Um any questions about this set of records or this set of policies? Um okay the next one is a first reading of a new policy 1222 um relationship with booster organizations. Um, this was created just to clarify the relationship between the district and
1:51:05booster clubs, PTOs, or really any other community organized um, school support organization. Um [clears throat] really just a housekeeping item to make sure that when people say, you know, we're doing this on behalf of the school district that they have clear guidelines to um follow and that the um relationship with the school is crystal clear. Um did you have anything to add to that? I know this was something that you noticed.
1:51:44Oh, that was good.
1:51:45Okay. Any other questions? All right. So, we'll bring that one back for a second reading. Third reading of policy 6830 and 6330R expense reimbursement. Um, this one has uh a fair amount of changes. just cleaning up some of the language um and making it clear how and what we will be um reimbursing and what h and the process for which employees can be can file for reimbursement. Um biggest change is you know making sure that uh reimbursements are submitted within 60 days of the s uh
1:52:31the expense. Um Chrissy, did I miss anything on that one? Okay, any questions about this policy? Um this is a third reading, so we can adopt it. Um so make a motion to adopt policy 6830 and 6830R expense reimbursement.
1:53:02Second.
1:53:03All in favor? Okay, we have a second reading of our facilities committee charter which is now policy 7000E1. Um, I believe that was the only thing that was missing um at the last meeting and unless there are any questions, I think we should adopt it. Okay. Um so make a motion to adopt facilities committee charter policy 70E1.
1:53:49Second.
1:53:49All in favor? Great. And I would uh at your next facilities committee meeting um you guys can discuss how you want to expand committee membership. um can certainly chat with uh Amanda about the ways that she went about it for policy committee and probably um use the use a similar mechanism. And now we also have second reading of uh internet safety policy 4526.1 and 4526.1R. Um, and I believe this was just cleaning up some of the language um around the uh title of the manager of instructional technology and some of the different um
1:54:54forms of technology that are no longer really relevant. Cheryl, was there anything else in this one? That was uh
1:55:02That was it.
1:55:03Cool.
1:55:03Yeah. Thank you.
1:55:04Thank you. Um so unless there is any further questions, make a motion to approve and adopt policies 4526.1 4526.1R Internet Safety Policy.
1:55:21Second.
1:55:22All in favor? Great. Thank you. Okay. So, next um we will as we mentioned we had a meeting with uh Dr. Kua Adams from HYA at our LA uh special meeting on January 7th. um do want to just uh reiterate that um although she is an associate at the same firm that we used for our last search um the reasons that the board chose Dr. Adams was both her familiarity with our district, the fact that she's worked here with uh community members and uh district leaders and teachers. Um and
1:56:10she was also the search consultant that uh was geographically closest to us. She lives in Albany. Um so we felt that both of those things were very important and which is why we selected her. Again, mere coincidence that she is also an associate with HYA. They have over 2,000 of them. Um so we do expect that this search process will be uh different and that has been our instruction to her to make sure that the community engagement portion of it is as robust as possible. Um that said we did agree to keep the
1:56:50search confidential with a confidential community stakeholder interview. Um so for those of you remember um search that we did in uh 2021 I believe um it'll follow a similar process to that where we will create a interview committee of stakeholders um from the district and the larger community who will be able to participate in an interview with semi- finalist candidates and contribute their thoughts to help the board make a um final decision. Um we settled on this because it sort of seemed like a good marriage of uh community engagement and
1:57:34a confidential process which is sort of key to us getting the uh largest amount of applicants possible. Um so for the community uh stakeholder um the community engagement part of it the first piece of it will be a survey um which we will be finalizing we have some more feedback from the board which we'll pass along to Dr. Adams um it will be distributed in um English, Spanish and Bengali. Um, we have been trying to um figure out if there is a high concentration of other languages spoken
1:58:18in the district and not sure if Cheryl that's something we could pull from parent square or if there's a
1:58:26from e school
1:58:27from e school
1:58:28information system.
1:58:29Okay, great. So, we want to look at that and just make sure that we're um getting the uh you know getting it into the hands of as many different families as possible and making it easy for them to respond. Um so, we'll look into that a little bit more. Um when responding to the survey, um there are a number of uh questions that you get have a chance to um agree or disagree with and also get to choose um which uh qualifications are most important to you and superintendent. Um this is very high level data. Um as you respond, these are
1:59:09also the roles that you can identify with. administrator, community member, parent of a student attending school, board member, student support staff or non-licensed staff and then faculty, certified and licensed staff and of course other um we'll go through the timeline for all of this uh later on. um focus groups. Um so in addition to the survey, there will be a number of focus groups which will be held where candidates will be asked uh which uh focus group members will be asked uh 10 different 10 to 13 different questions that they all get to answer collectively.
1:59:47um board members uh we um get interviewed individually um to avoid um uh having a quorum. Um there will be a focus group of administrators and district level leadership. Um a focus group with principles and assistant principles. um a focus group for um teachers and licensed personnel, both the union leadership and their members. Similarly with support staff, their union leadership and members um students of course um uh f a group for families, parents, guardians, uh PTO members, one for the community at large, so business leadership, clergic, clergy, community organizations, um governmental
2:00:38leadership and then one uh focus group where we provide Spanish translation, one focus group where we provide Bengali translation and then a makeup session for anybody uh in any of the other groups who's not able to attend. Um and we were also interested in we used to have the translation services on the laptops. Do we still have that?
2:00:59Yes, Wordly. We
2:01:00Wordly. So where we could bring Wordley as well. So if there's somebody who speaks anything besides English, Spanish or Bengali, they would be able to participate. Um the next page we have uh should have advertising options. So we have elected to choose package one um which is part of the original proposal. Um, and then uh also choose the uh northeast add-on which would bring us to all of the um superintendent in Niscus. Um would also include New Jersey and Connecticut. Um but Niscus is the one that we really want to make sure we hit everybody in.
2:01:54Um we're not going to post the position on LinkedIn. Uh but we will work with our communications team to create a district brochure. Um and uh would uh be honored if uh Mr. Lance Wheeler would make a promotional video for us showing everybody how great our district is. Um and then we'd also conduct a mailer to uh area administrators um so that they get something in their hands that says, "Hey, um this position is open and we'd love for you to apply." Um so those are all the things that we're going to do to make sure we get the largest
2:02:33number of qualified candidates possible. Um and then uh next page is just milestones.
2:02:46[clears throat]
2:02:47So uh first milestone board member interviews will be begin begin in the next two weeks. Uh we will post the position uh in early February uh at the same time that our online survey will go out um shortly thereafter. We will have our focus groups begin to meet. Um so we'll start uh getting the word out about that as well. Um the result of the survey and the focus groups is a leadership profile presentation. Um so collecting all that information and and putting it out as a
2:03:25profile that says hey based on what we've heard this is what your district is saying um it would like in its next superintendent. Um following that we would start to develop that um confidential community stakeholder group. So, the people who will actually be in the room um for the semi- finalist meetings, the board would uh would get its slate of candidates presented to us in April. Um following the uh post online, we would do our initial interviews in April for that slate of candidates. Following that, we would identify our semifinalists
2:04:08um which uh would be interviews with both the board and the confidential community stakeholder group. Um and then uh following that do some finalist interviews with the target for public announcement in June with the superintendent assuming responsibilities uh hopefully in July or August. Any questions? Anything I missed?
2:04:36Um I was just thinking um wondering if um Brian if you could kind of share you had um told kind of a story about um your partner and how she you came to build a house in in that district eventually. Do am I putting you on the spot or but because I feel like it it it it really captures what um why spreading a a larger net um network, you know, to to find somebody.
2:05:07I I the story I told was that um uh my partner is a superintendent as well and for seven years she drove over an hour to work every day. And um one thing she valued when she was a student and a teacher was being a part of a specific community. And she subse subsequently got a job in another school district. Um and um she worked there about a year before we chose to move to the district because that was so important to her. So my point was just that it isn't out of the realm of reason that someone who lived in Udica or you know even lived in
2:05:51Saratoga wouldn't consider coming to Hudson. It's every person I mention Hudson to they're like oh my gosh I love Hudson. You know there's so many people who come here and fall in love with the water and the people in the streets and so it is possible and understanding that we all want somebody who knows our community intimately. Um, that doesn't mean someone else can't fall in love and understand it too and be willing to move, which is important in some ways.
2:06:22Thank you. [laughter]
2:06:25Also, we're not the only district looking for a superintendent. I believe there's what, eight is six or eight districts within the immediate area that's also looking for that we know of immediate area. Yeah. So that will make it a little tougher I think at some point. [clears throat]
2:06:44Absolutely. Um all right. Well, thank you. We'll move forward with all this and people will start hearing about surveys and focus groups in the coming weeks. Um and now we have old business. Uh so our board goals um which is the third time we're seeing it. um is there were just some very minor changes. Uh I had the old title listed for our ex executive director of curriculum instruction and um some uh punctuation issues, but outside of that, would love to adopt these. We're already um making
2:07:27great progress in terms of ticking some of these things off of our box. Um but yeah, would love to commit it to um commit it. Well, it's already on paper, but you know, commit to it as a team and and uh uh keep making great progress. Um so I make a motion to approve uh board goals for the 2526 school year.
2:07:58Second. Second.
2:07:58All in favor? Um, and now we have our board activity calendar, which is still very much a work in progress. Um, and I think it will be until the end of the year. Um, you we had our budget presentation today. Uh, next meeting we have a community budget workshop. We'll have our pre capital project presentation. we'll have our uh sort of deeper dive into some of the NISED data and what it's telling us. Um so, you know, the things that we want to hear and we want to know are starting to stack up and will make for some very
2:08:43very full board meetings in the um coming months. Um down here we did have um you guys just scroll down a tiny bit. Um there were some other requests which we're still working through trying to find ways to um get them in here. Um definitely a special education presentation. Uh Diana, you had mentioned the shared decision-making plan, but sounds like maybe what we want is um just a larger sort of like MTSS like what are the menus, what are the options, what are all the things that we're doing in our buildings to make sure that our students are successful um
2:09:22and our teachers have all the tools that they need. Um, and we talked about um, just smart schools and district technology plans, which um, Cheryl mentioned we'll probably won't have uh, for the next few months from now. Um, and then uh, not just the ESSA grants, but it sounds like grants in general we need to sort of do a little bit of a deep dive into. Um, and uh, Whoops. Um so just change this to Grant's presentation. And we had also mentioned the um Panorama survey results uh when
2:10:01we have those um which not sure when that is depending I I think one was on school culture right and community. Were they all on that? Yeah, I think that's what we've been using it for.
2:10:17I was um just speaking with a representative today who was uh willing to help us disagregate that. So,
2:10:25great.
2:10:26We'll figure out where it'll fit in the next few months.
2:10:29Perfect. Um and then the other the one thing that that um Amanda had mentioned and I know she has more to add but um just coming up with a format of uh consistent reporting on data from our schools things like attendance um you know where we're tracking uh in terms of hitting our goals both on um state performance uh and promotion graduation um just so that those things don't sneak up on us.
2:11:00So, still have a little bit of work to do there, but um we're have a busy few months. And you know, I think we should also keep in mind that um you know, some of these things could warrant uh special board meetings. Um similarly with our superintendent search. So, um if we look at it now, there's really only five or six board meetings until the end of the year. So, we should plan on finding some extra time that we can all get together and if we want to really dig into some
2:11:29uh data or specific presentation, make sure we uh put a special meeting on the books for that. Um any questions? Anything else that uh comes to mind? Um
2:11:47can we
2:11:48can we fix then to them?
2:11:51Where is this?
2:11:52Under presentation guidelines.
2:11:56Oh yes we can.
2:11:57Board of Education.
2:11:59All right.
2:12:04Okay. Thank you Matt. Um so we have new business item. Um each year as a board we get to nominate a board member for our Quest R3 board. Um in the past we've always just said this is who it is. Um but wanted to bring it up for discussion. Uh Miss Mary Daly has been our um representative. um at Quest Star uh I believe for at least two terms. Um this will be her fourth three-year term. So um prior to that, she was on the board of education
2:12:50for the Hudson City School District. So we all have her um request for the nomination. Um and again, just wanted to put it out there in case anybody had other ideas. Uh but without any objections or other nominations, we would uh go ahead and make a resolution to officially nominate her at our next meeting in February.
2:13:17Second.
2:13:20Uh we're not we're not going to make we don't have a resolution right now. So right now it's just just to talk about just for information. See if anybody has questions. Um
2:13:28she's amazing.
2:13:28Yeah. No, I mean every I read her the letter or whatever and she she is amazing.
2:13:35Great. Um yeah, I mean I think it's always uh maybe not this year because we have a lot that we're trying to get through, but in the future worth us trying to find ways to um improve our relationship with Quest R3 Boseies, be more aware of what they're doing um and make sure that we have a uh dialogue with our representative there so that they can advocate for all the things we need as a district. Um, okay. Brings us to public forum.
2:14:08We have Laura Bender.
2:14:14Good evening, everybody again. Nice to see you all. I just had one thing that came to mind just from what you were just talking about that I just wanted to put out there. Um, is the difference in our board meeting schedule from this year compared to previous years. And I I know you have quite a bit of work to do before the the next year's schedule can be made, but I just want to kind of throw out the idea that maybe we could return to a bi-weekly schedule rather than a once a month just because um
2:14:44seeing everything on the back end now that I'm kind of having these discussions with the district and with the board. Um it's a lot of work and you guys are doing a lot of work every single meeting and um it can sometimes feel quite uh anxietyfilled as we're coming upon a board meeting. We want to make sure we're getting some things accomplished and getting some things checked off of a a list. Um so just wanted to throw that out there for consideration. Um I think a a bi-weekly schedule was manageable.
2:15:16Um but I that
2:15:17that perspective is good to have.
2:15:19Thank you very much. I think there's pros and cons for both of them, but we can definitely um make sure we get some drafts of our schedule a little bit earlier this year and make sure we're discussing as a board what we think has worked and not worked um before we finalize uh the plan for next year.
2:15:38What was the reasoning for going that was that happened before I got on. So the reasoning was board members had to do two board meetings a month and then multiple subcommittees on top of that. So for instance policy specific that's sort of the the tradeoff. Um
2:15:56could you have say a policy meeting once a month but two board meetings or won't that work that way?
2:16:02We could policy meetings are different now because there's different people on there and you have public involvement and
2:16:07it's different than it was.
2:16:09Yes, it absolutely is. So, um, yeah, I mean, my my first instinct is that maybe there's a middle ground and some months there are two meetings, but some months there aren't. Um, but, uh, but yeah, it's definitely worth discussing and sort of uh seeing how everybody feels and and how we want to plan uh plan next year. So, as you see with a lot of our things like our board goals and our board activity calendar, we're kind of a few months behind just based on, you know, things that have been happening in the district. But I think next year the plan would definitely be, you know, by the
2:16:48time July rolls around. We're starting planning right away. We know what the schedule is and what we need to accomplish and
2:16:56um have a little bit more time to focus on things like our goals and presentations and schedule and all that stuff. because I definitely see both sides of it because one, we have a lot to do in our daily lives and this but at the same time it's tough being a board member that we can't just talk
2:17:15until we get together as a once a month.
2:17:17Yeah.
2:17:17So said there's pros and cons to both sides of it like you're saying.
2:17:20Yeah,
2:17:21understood. Yeah, it's definitely worth discussion. Um so next is uh where is just an information item. Um it is a pilot agreement as most of you know and hopefully everybody else knows. We have no say in uh what pilots get approved in any of our um any of the uh cities or towns that are within our district. Um this one is in the city of Hudson and is uh so that's um determined by the city of Hudson IDA. Um we are going to try and get into the habit of adding these
2:18:07as items to our agenda just so that we have a record of them and are aware of them. Um and uh so that um 15 years from now uh Leslie can go into board docks and [laughter] and and find uh and find a uh pilot agreement. Um mostly just so we can keep track of when they fall off as well um and enable us to plan for our budget season. If you uh just as an example, if you go to almost the very last page, the uh
2:18:45it's a 10-year pilot that starts at 34 a.5 thousand and ends at 78,000 every year and every pilot has to be calculated in order to accurately come up with a tax cap calculation. So there's a lot of pieces on the board and it's very very important that we know to Matt Mark's point, this is great. Having informationational is a great thing. Any questions? Okay. Board discussion. Anybody have anything else they would like to add or experiences worth sharing?
2:19:21Good.
2:19:23Okay. Um, so brings us to upcoming meeting dates. Uh, we have a communications advisory virtual meeting on Tuesday, January 27th at 2026 at 6:30 p.m. A finance committee meeting Monday, February 2nd, 2026, 4:30 p.m. in the district conference room. A code of conduct subcommittee meeting number two, Monday, February 9th, 2026 at 3:30 in the high school library. Policy committee meeting Tuesday, February 10th, 2026, 5:00 p.m. in the high school library. and a regular board of education meeting Tuesday, February 24th, 2026, 6 pm in the high school
2:20:00library. No, sorry, high school auditorium. Um, at this time, we do have a need for uh a second executive session. Make a motion to enter executive session at 8:11 p.m. for the purposes of the employment history of a particular persons or persons and proposed real property transactions.
2:20:27Second.
2:20:27Collective
2:20:28and collective bargaining.
2:20:29Second.
2:20:30All in favor. There will be no further business after this executive session. Thank you all for being here.

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